Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Almost Time to Head for Higher Ground

 

"Over the last thirty years, the United States has been taken over by an amoral financial oligarchy, and the American dream of opportunity, education, and upward mobility is now largely confined to the top few percent of the population.  Federal policy is increasingly dictated by the wealthy, by the financial sector, and by powerful industries such as telecommunications, health care, automobiles, and energy. These policies are implemented and praised by these groups’ willing servants, namely the increasingly bought-and-paid-for leadership of America’s political parties, academia, and lobbying industry.

If allowed to continue, this process will turn the United States into a declining, unfair society with an impoverished, angry, uneducated population under the control of a small, ultrawealthy elite.  Such a society would be not only immoral but also eventually unstable, dangerously ripe for religious and political extremism."

Charles Ferguson, Predator Nation, June 2012


"Our plutocracy, whether the hedge fund managers in Greenwich, Connecticut, or the Internet moguls in Palo Alto, now lives like the British did in colonial India: ruling the place but not of it."

Mike Lofgren, The Deep State: The Fall of the Constitution and the Rise of a Shadow Government, 5 January 2016

"The American economy increasingly serves only a narrow part of society, and America's national politics has failed to put the country back on track through honest, open, and transparent problem solving.  Too many of America's elites — among the super-rich, the CEOs, and many of my colleagues in academia — have abandoned a commitment to social responsibility.  They chase wealth and power, the rest of society be damned."

Jeffrey Sachs, The Price of Civilization, January 2012


“If you can feel that staying human is worth while, even when it can't have any practical result whatsoever, you've beaten them.”

George Orwell

Stocks came in a little stronger this morning, but then reversed and turned sharply lower, and went out at the lows of the day as well.

Gold and silver were lower as most everything that was not the Dollar or Treasuries were getting sold.

It resembled a liquidation event, or at least the prologue to one.

Smells like teen spirit.

The Fed spooked the markets that are now pricing in a trio of 50 basis point rate increases this year.

At some point either the Fed or the markets are going to blink.

Let's see what happens.

I'm making the national dish of England for dinner this evening— tikka masala.

Have a pleasant weekend.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - And the Band Played On - Our Audacious Oligarchy

 

"We've become, now, an oligarchy instead of a democracy.  I think that's been the worst damage to the basic moral and ethical standards to the American political system that I've ever seen in my life." 

Jimmy Carter 

 

"They claim to be super-patriots, but they would destroy every liberty guaranteed by the Constitution.  They demand free enterprise, but are the spokesmen for monopoly and vested interest." 

Henry Wallace, April 1944

 

"Our plutocracy, whether the hedge fund managers in Greenwich, Connecticut, or the Internet moguls in Palo Alto, now lives like the British did in colonial India: ruling the place but not of it."

Mike Lofgren, The Deep State 

 

"Our future could be one in which continued tumult feeds the looting of the financial system, and we talk more and more about exactly how our oligarchs became bandits and how the economy just can’t seem to get into gear." 

Simon Johnson, The Quiet Coup, May 2009

 

“The main problem in any democracy is that crowd-pleasers are generally brainless swine who can go out on a stage and whip their supporters into an orgiastic frenzy— then go back to the office and sell every one of the poor bastards down the tube for a nickel apiece.” 

Hunter S. Thompson

 

"But there is a sort of 'Ok guys, you're mad, but how are you going to stop me' mentality at the top."

Robert Johnson, Audacious Oligarchy

Stocks moved lower again today, and went out near their lows.

Gold and silver were hit hard in the early trading, but managed to take back a good chun of their losses by the close.

The physical kilo bar inventory in Hong Kong is getting rather low again.  

Time to scour more physical out of the ETFs?

The Dollar rose on higher Treasury yields.

Congress engaged in the usual toothless showmanship in discussing the economy in testimony today.

I am sitting all in cash in my short term account now , although I did flip a few miners off the morning bloodbath.

Agnico-Eagle will be acquiring Kirkland Lake in a 'merger of equals (kind of).

The saga of the gambling Fed Presidents continues, and so we have another fine piece from the Martens today here.

Apparently a Fed President was actively placing short term million dollar directional bets, including the SP futures, during the crisis and the bailouts, with pockets full of insider information.

Must have been like shooting fish in a barrel.

And it was all legal so they say, and ethical.   But details are being stonewalled.

All in all not extraordinary, in this attractive but deceitful world of routine abuse of honor, office, power, and the truth.

Have a pleasant evening. 

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Mini-Me - Fed Reform and Quad Witch Option Expiration

 

"A man who lies to himself is often the first to take offense. it sometimes feels very good to take offense, doesn't it?  And surely he knows that no one has offended him, and that he himself has invented the offense and told lies just for the beauty of it, that he has exaggerated for the sake of effect, that he has picked up on a word and made a mountain out of a pea--he knows all of that, and still he is the first to take offense, he likes feeling offended, it gives him great pleasure.” 

Fyodor Dostoevsky 

 

“The point of modern propaganda isn't only to misinform or push an agenda. It is to exhaust your critical thinking, to annihilate truth.” 

Garry Kasparov 

 

"Unhappiness comes to each of us because we think ourselves at the center of the world, because we have the miserable conviction the we alone suffer to the point of unbearable intensity."

Jacques Lusseyran

 

“The official philosophies of the totalitarian regimes unanimously brand as nonsensical the idea that there exists a single objective truth valid for everybody. The official philosophies of the totalitarian regimes deny the inherent value of thought.  For them thought is not a light but a weapon: its function, they say, is not to discover reality as it is, but to change and transform it with the purpose of leading us towards what is not.”

Alexandre Koyré 

 

Stocks took a fairly convincing swoon this morning, falling straight down to underlying support.

But mirabile dictu, equities regained most of their losses in the late afternoon and finished with a small loss.

The Dollar rallied up to just short of the 93 handle.

Gold and silver were whacked pretty convincingly along with most of the associated miners.

I was sitting all in cash, in part because I didn't like the feel of the market.  And I still don't.

I did buy a couple of small mining positions in the metals today, on the of chance this is just quad witch shenanigans and not the beginning of something more profoud.

Nice save on the stock indices into the close.  That made me doubt the sincerity of this market.

But you never know.

There will be a quad witch stock option expiration on Friday, the third of this year.

The banks must be restrained, the financial system reformed, and the economy brought back into balance, before there can be any sustained recovery. 

Given the extent of the corruption of the major monopolized industries and the political system by big money I am not optimistic about when meaningful reform will happen. 

Certainly not with the 'self-review' of the Fed's ethics that Chairman Powell has just proposed. 

The best way to manage a scandal in your own house is to lead the investigation of it.

But as Hermann Hesse once wrote, 'When the suffering becomes acute enough, one goes forward.'

Have a pleasant evening.

How the Banks and Hedge Funds Manipulate the Precious Metals Markets

 

"If price discovery is compromised by manipulation, then we will all be gradually impoverished and the economy will be imbalanced and unstable.   Over the past 25 years the forces of regulatory liberalisation and demutualisation of markets have allowed the largest global banks to set the rules, processes and infrastructure of global markets to their own self-interested requirements."

London Banker, Lies, Damn Lies, and LIBOR 

 

"American political corruption was the buying up of legislatures and assemblies to keep them from doing the people's will and protecting the people's interests; it was the exploiter entrenching himself in power, it was financial autocracy undermining and destroying political democracy.   By the blindness and greed of ruling classes the people have been plunged into infinite misery.

It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.” 

Upton Sinclair

 

"He who does not bellow the truth when he knows the truth makes himself the accomplice of liars and forgers."

Charles Peguy

 

When I write about 'running the stops' this is what I mean, as is explained in the video below.  They do it quite a bit in the metals markets, but also in the rest of them, including the bond markets.

There are commentators and sites that continue to excuse and cover up the corruption ongoing in the markets. 

You might be correct, given all the evidence, to be a bit skeptical if not suspicious of those professional scoffers, and the perennial promoters of unregulated 'free markets' in which powerful insiders have the ability to cheat and defraud the public at will.

The pity is that it still continues, along with quite a bit of additional antics and shenanigans.

Here is something I wrote back in 2009 about a particular event, which was called the Dr. Evil strategy by Citibank when the European regulators took them to task for running the stops in the European bond market. 

Ted Butler and many others have been doing good work citing and challenging this silver and gold market manipulation, for years.   Ted in particular has been writing the book on JPM and the silver market.

Bart Chilton passed away some years ago at age 58.   But Gary Gensler, his old boss, is now back again.   Will anything be done?

You can find the related pieces over time by clicking on the Dr. Evil topic here.

Here is Kyle Bass' opinion on the physical metals leverage in the Comex.  The video keeps getting taken down, but this copy remains.

And here is James Cramer's notorious description of how he manipulated the markets.

If you are trading with a online broker, do you notice how odd the price action has become when you place an order?

I do not seek to persuade you.  If you don't realize yet what is going on, it may be because you cannot.

I just feel an obligation to bring things like the video below into the light of day. 

Make up your own minds.

Or listen when the opinion molders say, 'nothing to see here move along,' and 'look look over there, people are trying to take your freedom by making you wear a mask.'

But if and when the physical markets blow up, as these highly leveraged schemes generally do, and no one could have seen it coming, and some outlandish rationale is advanced, you will know what happened, if you choose to see what has been there all along.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Everybody Knows, But Who Could Have Seen It Coming?

"I have one other issue I'd like to throw on the table. I hesitate to do it, but let me tell you some of the issues that are involved here.  If we are dealing with psychology, then the thermometers one uses to measure it have an effect.  I was raising the question on the side with Governor Mullins of what would happen if the Treasury sold a little gold in this market.

There's an interesting question here because if the gold price broke [lower] in that context, the thermometer would not be just a measuring tool.  It would basically affect the underlying psychology. Now, we don't have the legal right to sell gold but I'm just frankly curious about what people's views are on situations of this nature because something unusual is involved in policy here.  We're not just going through the standard policy where the money supply is expanding, the economy is expanding, and the Fed tightens. This is a wholly different thing." 

Alan Greenspan, Federal Reserve Minutes from May 18, 1993 

 

"We looked into the abyss if the gold price rose further.  A further rise would have taken down one or several trading houses, which might have taken down all the rest in their wake.  Therefore at any price, at any cost, the central banks had to quell the gold price, manage it.  It was very difficult to get the gold price under control but we have now succeeded.  The US Fed was very active in getting the gold price down.  So was the U.K." 

Sir Eddie George, Governor Bank of England in conversation with Nicholas J. Morrell, of Lonmin Plc, 1999

 

"The information in this report is taken from sources believed to be reliable; however, the Commodity Exchange, Inc. disclaims all liability whatsoever with regard to its accuracy or completeness.  This report is produced for information purposes only." 

Statement at the bottom of the CME Gold and Silver warehouse inventory reports

 

"On January 30, 2012 the Wall Street Journal did a hilariously bad job of reporting when its front page article stated that a 'person close to the investigation' said that as a result of chaotic trading in the week before MF Global's October 31 bankruptcy, customers' money 'vaporized.'  Money doesn't vaporize...

The habitual filching of customers' funds -- even if the funds are later replaced -- goes way beyond sloppy bookkeeping.  It goes way beyond bad judgment.  Just because MF Global got away with it for a long time before it blew up in its face doesn't mean one can call it sloppy bookkeeping and have any reasonable person believe it."

Janet Tavakoli,  MF Global:  Crime, Comedy, and Cover-Up, February 28, 2012

 

"But there is a sort of  'Ok guys, you're mad, but how are you going to stop me' mentality at the top." 

Robert Johnson, Audacious Oligarchy

 

“If you shut up truth and bury it under the ground, it will but grow, and gather to itself such explosive power that the day it bursts through it will blow up everything in its way.” 

Émile Zola

 

I just thought these statements were an interesting reminder, and a modern truth to be relearned, bluntly and plainly stated. 

Promises and commitments these days are writ on the water of the fine print, and in the laws which the corporations have paid to have written. 

Who can say where and when the next Madoff moment will appear.

Gold and silver rallied strongly overnight.

Alas, they were hit in the London and NY trading, finishing slightly lower.

The Dollar drifted sideways, managing to hold a toe over the 91 handle.

Stocks soared today, taking back much of their recent losses, but still falling short of their recent highs.

Who could see it coming?

Risk on.

Have a pleasant evening.

 

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Mania - Metals Option Expiration, Fed Meeting Decision Tomorrow

 

"Few things are more destructive to Christians than anger.  Anger causes us to lose our self-control and to say and do things we would otherwise never consider.  Anger, if allowed to remain, turns into bitterness that eats away at our hearts.

Anger does not bring about God’s redemptive work; far more often it hinders what God is working to accomplish.  If you feel that you have a righteous anger because of something that has happened, see if you are holding anger in your heart without sin.   Is your anger turning into bitterness?  Is your anger causing you to make excuses for your own ungodly behavior?  Is your anger preventing you from acting in a loving, redemptive, and Christlike way?" 

Henry Blackaby

 

"Those wishing abundant wealth are falling into temptation and a trap, and into many foolish and harmful passions which plunge them into ruin and destruction.  For the love of money is the root of all evil, and people in their desire for it have strayed from the faith and have pierced themselves with many pains.  But you people of God, avoid all this. Instead, pursue righteousness, devotion, faith, love, patience, and gentleness." 

1 Timothy 6:9-11

 

We are in a speculative mania now.  Hysteria and passions are running high with greed and entitlement.

When the reckoning comes, the insiders and moneyed interests will be blaming the small speculators and 'Robin Hood' crowd.  They always do.  

Hate the game and not the players, right? 

But they are at the heart of it, urging on the speculation, and steadily weakening the safeguards and regulations at every turn so that they can extend their outsized misappropriation of the nation's wealth.

In the same manner that they foment political anger and social hatred and oppression and riots, with a towering pride and self-righteousness and self-delusion.

Know who it is that you serve.

Madness.

Do not be so concerned about your money, that you let go so easily of your self.

Have a pleasant evening. 

 

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Destroyer of Markets - Audacious Oligarchy

“A lie that is half-truth is the darkest of all lies.”

Alfred Lord Tennyson


“Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!”

Noel Langley, The Wizard of Oz, screenplay


"I know nothing that I may say can influence you. You have no souls to be influenced. You are spineless, flaccid things. You pompously call yourselves Republicans and Democrats.  You are lick-spittlers and panderers, the creatures of the Plutocracy."

Jack London, The Iron Heel


“Each day we are becoming a creature of splendid glory, or one of unthinkable horror.”

C. S. Lewis

Stocks bounced today.

This was somewhat expected as noted yesterday. Their declines had reached the fibonacci retracements for a correction.

Gold and silver also had healthy bounces today.

Gold is a trading range.

Silver is in an intermediate consolidation pattern.

The Dollar laid off a bit from its recent gains.

Donholio continues to harm his chances for the next election by boasting or otherwise revealing things that he did.    In this latest he confessed, over a recorded phone call, to Bob Woodward that he had purposely downplayed the virulence and threat of the coronavirus pandemic.

This will be excused, or simply be ignored, by the true believers and kindred souls. And as always, those who cannot recall, or could not have known.

"And we can carry on the practice of charity and prayers in our daily lives, in the little things, if we can take the first step when called. It is that first step, away from the path of selfishness and death, and into the arms of love and true life, that is the key.  The first step out of the darkness and into the light is the hardest.  But once there, in that loving and hospitable place, our true home for which we were made, we find comfort and place, and pray that we may never leave."     Jesse, April 2014 

Repentance, forgiveness, thankfulness.

Need little, want less, love more.  For those who abide in love abide in God, and God in them.

Have a pleasant evening.